PLATZL BAR – INTRODUCING THE BAR MANAGER

02/17/2012

The Platzl Bar in Munich, early evening on a Friday: events at the reception and popular hotel lobby can be followed from the comfy and stylish wooden tables of the Platzl Bar.

The Platzl Bar in Munich, early evening on a Friday: events at the reception and popular hotel lobby can be followed from the comfy and stylish wooden tables of the Platzl Bar. Jürgen Reich – manager of the Platzl Bar for the last five years – is getting ready for an evening with the bar guests. Reich is a native of Düsseldorf, who has lived in Munich for the last 40 years. He enjoys his profession, as “one can meet many wonderful people from all over the world and make wonderful connections”.

Reich began his career in the 1980s at the ‘Golfers Club’ in Munich-Schwabing, before moving to ‘Harry’s New York Bar’, an offshoot of the famous Bar in Paris, the oldest bar in Europe. It was here that Reich perfected the art of mixing cocktails. To this day, the Manhattan cocktail remains his favourite drink, as it ‘can be served as a digestif as well as an aperitif’. As a ‘nouveau Bavarian’, Reich also enjoys a cold, freshly-tapped beer.

When ‘Harry’s Bar’, situated in an ideal Munich location, was taken over by a new owner, who changed the name, Reich became bar manager. In 1983 he decided to fulfil his dream and go it alone. During this period he gave trainees from the Platzl Hotel annual crash courses in cocktail-mixing to prepare them for their exams. After selling his own bar in 2006 and taking a brief ‘sabbatical’, Reich quickly found that he missed day-to-day bar life. Platzl Hotel’s offer of short-term job at the Platzl Bar therefore came at the ideal time, and six months later, Reich was asked to become bar manager.

The Platzl Bar is, in his opinion, something special: “You’re a direct participant in the goings-on at the hotel and not just a waiter, but also a host”. The bar’s large and high-value selection of spirits and local brandies is also a particular plus.

As a special treat for guests and friends of the Platzl Hotel, Jürgen Reich presents one of his favourite cocktail recipes:

Manhattan

4cl Canadian Club Whisky

2cl Vermouth Rosso

2 shots Angostura

Mix the whisky together with the Vermouth, two shots of Angostura and some ice cubes in a mixing glass. Pour into a martini glass through a bar strainer.